Full Bloom

shoulders as he tried to check himself.
    "No, it's all right. It's all right, Jacob. I need you. I need you now." Emily pulled him closer, showing him without words that she was ready for him.
    Jacob caught his breath, tightened his grip on her and eased himself heavily into Emily's soft, clinging warmth. She shivered as she folded herself around him.
    Jacob's last coherent thought before he lost himself in the rhythms of passion was that claiming Emily was like plunging himself into a pool of clinging, sun-drenched flowers.

FIVE
    « ^ »
    E mily stood in the bedroom doorway, a steaming cup of coffee in her hands, and stared in wonder at the big man sprawled across her bed. Jacob lay on his back, the white sheet and blanket in a tangle at his waist.
    He appeared remarkably sexy, lying there against the pristine white pillows. Hard, powerful and dangerous. A half-tamed predator who had wandered into this pretty, feminine bedroom and claimed it and its owner for his own. His dark hair was tousled, and his broad shoulders looked tanned and strong against the snowy bedclothes.
    Emily was half convinced she was still dreaming.
    The night had been a time of magic and discovery for Emily. She was in love. Completely. Totally. Everything she had felt for Jacob in the past paled in comparison to the shining passion and love she felt now that she had finally lain in his arms.
    She took a couple of hesitant steps into the room, her robe brushing the white carpet. She had run a brush quickly through her hair before going out into the kitchen to make coffee, but she knew it was still in some disarray.
    Emily came to a halt at the foot of the white lacquer bed and studied her lover more intently. The gray morning light of a Seattle dawn was flowing in through the windows. Emily always slept with the blinds open. She liked light, even at night. Last night Jacob had made no objection. He seemed more than content to make love to her time and again in the reflected glow from the city outside the windows.
    A small, thrilling shiver, an echo of last night's passionate excitement, rippled through Emily as she stood looking down at Jacob. She had never known what real passion was until last night. She had never known how hot love could burn until last night. If Jacob had taken her to bed two years ago before leaving her, she would have been far more devastated than she had been at the time.
    Then again, she told herself, if he had made love to her that night two years ago, perhaps he would not have been able to leave her. Neither of them would ever know. It no longer mattered. What was past was past.
    The sensual lessons of the night drifted once more through Emily's head. She had never before understood what it was to give herself completely to a man and have him respond with the same uninhibited generosity. In Jacob's arms Emily had learned what it was to feel both safe and free.
    When Jacob had claimed her last night, Emily had been stunned at the wildness that had swept through her. She had not even suspected such a bold, reckless side to her own nature. She had gloried in Jacob's strength and in her own newfound feminine power. Jacob's eyes had gleamed with passionate satisfaction and delight when he succeeded in bringing Emily to the shattering climax of their union.
    It came to Emily then that this relationship with Jacob was the most important thing in her life. And following on the heels of that thought came another very primitive realization.
    She would do anything in the world to protect this man and the love that had burst into full flower within her last night.
    Emily was still contemplating the power of her protective instincts and wondering how such a fierce, wild streak could have lain dormant within her all these years when Jacob stirred and opened his eyes.
    "The perfect woman," he said with a lazy, wicked grin as he surveyed the cup in her hand. "All my life I've wanted to have my coffee served to me in bed."
    Emily smiled a little shyly. "I had no idea your fantasy life was so exciting."
    "Don't make fun of my fantasies. I've lived on them for a long time." Jacob sat up against the pillows, yawning hugely. He held out his hand, and Emily walked to the side of the bed and put the cup and saucer in his strong fingers. He took it from her and then looked up at her expectantly. When she just stood there looking back at him, he scowled with mock impatience. "You're supposed to accompany the coffee with a kiss."
    "Oh. How